TSO: Christmas Dreams
by kelseyphantomgirl
Summary: A little orphan girl stumbles upon an old hotel where she meets the owner, an electric guitarist in Trans-Siberian Orchestra. She doesn't believe in magic, but that will all soon change when he takes her on a journey through the magic of Christmas.
1. Chapter 1: The Lost Christmas Eve

Trans-Siberian Orchestra: Christmas Dreams

based on the music by Trans-Siberian Orchestra

Chapter I

A little girl, six, only in her nightgown and slippers, trembled in the cold, skin piercing air, not looking back. Her hands were tucked tightly under her arms in attempt to keep them warm. The little girl's parents were long gone. They had perished in a fire destroying their home, leaving the little girl in an orphanage. She had escaped the orphanage for one reason. Each year, on Christmas Eve, she would escape for just one night of the year to see the lights on the Christmas trees. She never saw them during the winter until she would escape to just catch a glimpse of the beautiful trees. She walked the streets of the snow covered ground with complete caution, looking around to see if anyone would notice her escape. Even in the shivering air, the child stared at the fully decorated trees that sparkled the night. Her look of awe suddenly vanished by her shivering and her coughing from the cold. Snowflakes landed in her hair and onto her fragile eyelids. Just then, she heard a rustling in the bushes. She thought that somebody must've found her, so she trudged as fast as she could, with her muffled footsteps from the snow, into the darkness. She ran through the woods, and was surprised to see an ancient hotel standing in front of her. It looked as though it hasn't been used in decades! For some reason her instincts told her to go inside.. and she did so. A beautiful lobby with cream colored walls and garland covered banners filled the room. In the corner stood a gigantic Christmas tree. The child stood in front of it, looking at the gleaming ornaments and the humungous star on top. She then glanced back behind her to see if anyone was watching her, but the room lay perfectly still, no sound escaping except the howling wind of outside. She thought, "Who is running this hotel? Where is everyone?"

Since she was apparently the only person in the place, the girl laid down near the tree and closed her eyes to sleep. The child's form went up and down with her peaceful breathing. The hotel owner had been walking home from the Old City Bar, carrying his electric guitar with him. He had just been playing there with his band that used orchestra and rock into one genre of music. After a big night of music, he felt that a good night's rest would do the trick. Christmas was his favorite holiday, so he mostly played Christmas music with his band. He arrived at the hotel and opened the door, unknowing that a child was fast asleep beside the tree. He gasped quietly. He thought, "A lonely child on Christmas Eve... Let's change that."

He smiled to himself and went silently to a broom closet, grabbing a warm blanket and going back to the lobby. He set his electric guitar down so it leaned against an arm of a cushioned chair, then he gently put the blanket on the child who was sleeping in his hotel. At that moment, the child started to stir. The man backed away quietly and slowly as possible, but the child was already awake.

The girl gasped, "I'm sorry! Please don't send me back! Please!"

The man simply smiled, "It's alright. I won't send you back."

"You won't?"

He shook his head, "Never... You lost your family, haven't you?"

She nodded, "How did you know?"

The man chuckled, "Magic."

She was puzzled, "I thought there was no such thing."

He laughed, "Oh, but there is such thing! It's everywhere! You just haven't gone looking for it!"

The man then picked up his electric guitar and opened the door to the outside. He smiled at the child who just stared at him blankly. When he continued on to go outside, she quickly ran behind him to catch up.

He then looked down at her, "Watch this!"

_On a street in the night  
In the cold winter's light  
A child stands alone and she's waiting_

And the light that's out there  
It just hangs in the air  
As if it was just hesitating

And the snow it comes down  
And it muffles the sound  
Of dreams on their way to tomorrow

And when they appear  
This night will hold them near  
For where they will lead  
She will follow

For here in this city of lights  
This evening awakens  
The dreams that it might  
The winter it conjures  
The spells it will weave  
The snow gently covers the ground  
Christmas eve

In this scene  
On this night  
There's an ancient hotel  
Where shadows they do tend to wander

And the ghosts that live here  
Hold each moment so dear  
For time's not a thing one should squander

And they recount their sand  
As it runs through their hand  
And examine each moment for meaning

It can be wished upon  
Till the moment it's gone  
Like day disappears into evening

For here in this city of lights  
This evening awakens  
The dreams that it might  
The winter it conjures  
The moment is seized  
The snow gently covers the ground  
Christmas eve

Through this night  
The dream still wanders  
As it was meant to be  
And every year this night grows fonder

Of children and circumstance  
Caught in this childhood dance  
As the world turns around  
Keeping dreams on the ground

Windows of frosted ice  
Prisming candlelight  
And somehow we  
Start to believe

In the night and the dream  
As it cuts through the noise  
With the whisper of snow  
As it starts to deploy

In the depths of a night  
That's about to begin  
With the feeling of snow  
As it melts on your skin

And it covers the land  
With a dream so intense  
That it returns us all  
To a child's innocence

And then what you'd thought lost  
And could never retrieve  
Is suddenly there to be found  
On Christmas eve  
On Christmas eve


	2. Chapter 2: Time You Should Be Sleeping

TSO: Christmas Dreams

Chapter II

The little girl's eyes lit up as the darkened forest surrounding the hotel turned colorful with light. All the trees were turned into beautiful Christmas trees and the snow lightly covered the branches. The man looked down at her, seeing that she was amazed.

"But that's just the beginning," he said, "Follow me."

Trudging through the snow, the two walked through the woods and came to the little village where the child had escaped from. She soon realized this and clung to the man's leg, hiding behind his tall form which almost made him trip. Her heart raced.

The man looked down at the scared child with a soft smile across his face, "I won't send you back. I promise. I just have something I want to show you."

She didn't believe him. She wouldn't let go of his leg. He then sighed thoughtfully and picked the child up, carrying her like a person would hold a year old infant. She put her arms around his neck, which he didn't mind, and his electric guitar hung over his back. He kept walking down the snow covered street with the child in his arms. He then came to the Old City Bar. That was the place his band played that night. Surprisingly, when the man opened the door and walked in, the band was still there, occupying themselves with their instruments, while the chorus was harmonizing. When he walked inside, everyone noticed him with the child. The man said nothing, but walked in further. The little girl was almost asleep in his arms. Luckily, a lounge chair next to a fire place stood in the corner. Gently, the man set the little girl down in the chair, and played a Christmas lullaby.

_Time You Should Be Sleeping_

_Everyone Around You_

_Is Already Dreaming And Closely By_

_Stars Are Looking Downward_

_Glad That They Have Found You_

_Watching And Protecting _

_So You Should Try_

_To Close Your Eyes Until Tomorrow_

_Childhood Dreams Are Always New_

_And When You And There I'll Follow_

_And Believe That My Whole Life Is_

_I Can See You Breathing_

_Know That I Am Near You_

_Feel The Evening Whisper In Gentle Sighs_

_To Close Your Eyes Until Tomorrow_

_Childhood Dreams Are Always New_

_And When You And There I'll Follow_

_And Believe That My Whole Life Is You_


	3. Chapter 3: A Mad Russian Christmas

When the little girl woke up, hours later, not even sunrise, she looked around to see the band asleep. The man was leaned back in a bar chair, awake. His legs were crossed and his feet on top of the bar table. The little girl took tiny footsteps toward him. The man said nothing, but got up from his seat and woke the band members one by one with a shake of their shoulders. They were startled, but didn't argue as they laughed of the man's surprise. For the first time since she was born, she laughed. She giggled from the man's surprise. That giggle made the man's heart flutter with happiness. The little girl went up to the band members and tried to mimic the man when he had woken them up. They laughed lightly at her imagination of playing pretend.

"Get up!" she giggled.

The man chuckled and picked her up, "They're already awake, dear."

"Oh," the girl realized.

He smiled at her and he brought her outside. The toy store was down the street, and he went there, only stopping in front of the building. In the window, toy trains, dolls, carousels of porcelain horses went around and around. The child had never seen a toy store before in her life, since she had lived in the orphanage. She stared at the hand-carved nutcrackers that was also painted with great detail. Her eyes filled with wonder, amazed from the things she had never seen before.


	4. Chapter 4: What is Christmas?

TSO: Christmas Dreams

Chapter IV

The guitarist then led her to a hospital where an old man was hunched down, wearing a black cloak, his face red with anger. The child held the guitarist's hand and looked up at the man who was so angry.

"Why is he angry?" the child asked the guitarist in a whisper tone.

"Maybe we'll find out," he replied.

**_What is Christmas?_**

**_Tinseled fairy tales _**

**_Day old stockings lined up in a row _**

**_What is Christmas? _**

**_Could someone tell me that? _**

**_What is Christmas? _**

**_Surely, I don't know_**

**_And everywhere these lights _**

**_Who needs to color night? _**

**_Could this whole thing be planned?_**

**_I do not understand_**

**_This Christmas trees with colored lights_**

**_Underneath they still are only trees_**

**_Do you think that one day perhaps they might_**

**_Find that Christmas is kind of a disease?_**

**_Every year it's waiting for me, waiting for me _**

**_Every year it constantly defies _**

**_Placing strangers there before me, there before me_**

**_Spreading hope and cheer mixed in with happiness_**

**_Fraternal bliss and other Christmas lies_**

The old man came over to the child and looked down at her with stern eyes, making her fall on her bottom.

**_And there's one more thing that I have discovered _**

**_That I would now like you to know _**

**_The reason for Christmas I now realize Is an excuse to tolerate snow, snow_**

**_I don't even like the sound of it _**

**_Anyway, where was I? _**

**_Oh, yes_**

**_What is Christmas?_**

**_Candles everywhere A fire hazard any other day _**

**_Children light them, no one seems to care_**

**_All for Christmas_**

**_Every year it returns here_**

**_And every year it's waiting for me_**

**_Why can't Christmas disappear_**

**_And just pretend it never saw me?_**

**_Every year I get my hopes up _**

**_That it will somehow just leave_**

**_But every year I wake to find _**

**_That once again it now is Christmas eve_**


	5. Chapter 5: The Wisdom of Snow

TSO: Christmas Dreams

Chapter IV

After the old man said he hated Christmas, the child hid behind the guitarist.

"I'm scared, Mr. Guitar Man."

The old man was puzzled, "Who is 'Mr. Guitar Man?'"

"He's right here," she replied.

"Don't play games with me, girl!.. You're from the orphanage! You escaped! You are in big trouble, young lady!"

The child was so scared that she ran past him and into the hospital. The old man growled, but didn't follow her. The little girl caught her breath. Why did he not see Mr. Guitar Man?

She then saw a nurse come up to her.

The nurse asked, "Can I help you?"

"I-I don't know."

The nurse then recognized her, "You're that girl... who lost her parents in a fire five years ago.."

The nurse then went to a file cabinet and grabbed one specific file, pulling out a black and white photo. It was someone vaguely familiar. It was the guitar man! He was with a woman that was holding not even a year old infant.

"These are your parents. I'm sorry, but they're dead."

The child's eyes widened. The nurse went back into the file and pulled out a guitar pick that said TSO on it, but it was hooked to a silver chain.

"This was your father's guitar pick. I'd like you to have it. It's no use to this run down hospital. It's been in the lost and found for years. It was found during the fire."

The child didn't believe the nurse's words. She only could mumble a small, "Thank you."

Without a word, she took the locket and the picture, and she ran back to the abandoned hotel.


End file.
